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Sol would never forget the thumps Bell’s SUV made when he rolled over that bastard. He would never forget how it felt.
The satisfaction.
He was finally doing something to make things right for his little girl.
He was going to find Hope now. In more ways than one. Someone—someone had to do good tonight. To make things right.
“Hallie, honey. Sit up now. We need to talk.”
72
Madison had always hated the night. Being this far from town freaked her out even more. But she wasn’t about to say a word about it. Not with Hope out there. She sensed the younger woman was just as afraid of the dark as she was. Hope just wasn’t saying either. “There. I see flashing reds and blues.”
“Who is out here with us tonight?” Hope asked. “I really hope it’s Major Crimes. They are capable of making a girl feel safe. Especially when it’s Heather.”
Hope was really close with her older sister Heather, Madison thought. Idolized Heather a little, even. Definitely had some hero worship going on.
Hope had told stories of life with a bunch of sisters of the heart, as she called them all. Heather had taken care of Hope while their older sisters had been working. Hope had said once that her Bonnie-Mom had technically raised them all, but Heather had partially raised the seven younger ones, too, while Heather’s twin was busy studying to become a doctor.
Heather was always watching out for them, so Hope had made it her job to take care of Heather when she needed it, too. Madison thought that sounded pretty wonderful to her. She had her little brother Max. He was eleven years younger than she was, and she had always looked out for him. But all of those sisters right there in the Coleson family—she couldn’t imagine it. She was close with Charlotte, and the rest of their friends. But to have those kinds of friendships just built in from the beginning sounded wonderful. It hurt her that her friend Zoey had missed out on that with her family.
“That they do. Especially the big, seriously hot, muscle-bound ones.” And even though Dom drove her insane sometimes, he was seriously hot. She hadn’t ever missed that. She just wasn’t going to let herself acknowledge it out loud. “Like Daniel.”
“Daniel. Yum-yum. Maybe we should get him to go out with Heather?”
“They would just be far too beautiful together.” And it probably wouldn’t take much. Madison thought Daniel was attracted to Heather. A lot of guys at the TSP were attracted to Heather—no denying that.
“He’s lonely.” Hope was quiet for a moment. A quiet Hope was a bit of a rarity. She’d just been a little quieter over the last few days. What had happened to Miguel Rodriguez had really impacted Hope a great deal. And now she had his kids at her house. And, well, Miguel was staying there, too. It was no wonder Hope wasn’t as Hope as she usually was. “Heather won’t date a cop ever again anyway. She definitely won’t ever get naked with one again, I think. Not…after her ex and what he did.”
That was a very touchy subject for Hope. Madison wasn’t going to bring him up ever. She’d seen him. In the Major Crimes bullpen, in the main conference area. The open area. He had been touring Major Crimes. But Daniel had blocked his transfer, at the last minute, even fighting with Wichita Falls and Elliot Marshall—everyone had heard about that. Daniel had been very vocal, and furious, about Wilson. No one knew why. But there were rumors. About Miguel and Heather. “Why did Jarrod go to Daniel about Wilson?”
Hope just shrugged, as she maneuvered the van toward the flashing red and blues ahead. “I don’t know. I don’t know if Jarrod knows about…Steve. Or if…I know something happened. The day after the mile forty-four bust. Something happened. But I was still under anesthetic.”
“I heard Commander Rodriguez threatened to rip that guy’s arms off and shove them down his throat. One of the security guards heard it on video. Heather was there. Between them.” There had been other things said. Like that Steve Wilson had been threatening Heather at the time. But someone—she suspected Daniel—had squelched any rumors about that fast. If Heather hadn’t told her sister about that—Madison wasn’t about to.
“I wish I could have seen that. I hope Steve was shaking in his shoes. He’d deserve that. Of course, he probably thinks Heather is sleeping with Miguel. He’s always hated guys near her. She only dated him a little bit for like two months, like less than four or five dates at max—and he turned super possessive. Then she got pregnant with Frankie by accident and he was so angry with her.” Hope’s good hand clenched the wheel. “I hate that guy, Mads. More than you can ever know. I hate him so damned much. But I can’t stop him. Any more than I could that night—Heather…stopped him…before…me.”
“What do you mean?”
Hope just shook her head. “Nothing. Forget it. Nothing good comes of the past. That guy…seriously bad news. Remember that, Mads. Seriously bad news.”
Madison heard the pain. But they were there. Next to the squad car. “I think it’s Brett Naylor and Joey Costovia.”
“Brett. Yum-yum. Nice man specimen. Costovia. Yuck. Total man-pig specimen.”
“I fully agree.” Costovia gave her the creeps and always had. Something just seemed so wrong or broken in him. Oily. She didn’t think he was a cop to help people. Not at all. No. For him, it was more about the power-trip thing.
But the Naylor brothers, Bryant and Brett, seriously nice guys. When they weren’t flirting with every woman in the TSP young and old. They even flirted with Betty, the custodian who cleaned the lab at night, and she was seventy-four and working two nights a week so she would have something to do and people to talk to. Bryant and Brett had taken Betty to breakfast at Mamaw’s Place for her last birthday. And changed the oil in her car and aired up her tires. Fussed over her.
Madison had thought it was sweet.
“Shouldn’t there be a second car out here? An unmarked?” Hope parked the van, off to the side, behind the patrol car. Detective Costovia was a part of Major Crimes—he had an unmarked. “And where’s the one we’re here to process?”
“Maybe that’s it ahead?” About two hundred feet, there was a dark SUV. Madison shivered. Something about tonight felt wrong. Scarier than normal. Zoey always said go with your gut. If something didn’t feel right—it probably wasn’t. “Stay…close.”
“Creeping you out, too?”
“Can’t deny it.” Maybe it was the full moon. Made her think of vampires or werewolves or something.
